Hearts are firmly on the sleeves this week, with The Magicians episode 12 of season 4: ‘The Secret Sea’. The following, as per usual, contains SPOILERS!
With all the various stories converging, and all the dots being connected, we are definitely seeing everything come to a head as the last episode of the season approaches. As this happens, The Magicians doesn’t shy away from laying all their characters bare, and we get an episode of monumental events, played out in intimate settings and groups.
There is therefore quite an intriguing feel to this whole episode, as there are some seismic plot points being delivered, but also with these emotionally compact scenes. For instance, Margo (Summer Bishil) gets to reflect on the nature of her relationship with Josh (Trevor Einhorn), while also having a moment of understanding with Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley). This all comes about because Fen (Brittany Curran) finds the reservoir of magic under Fillory, also known as the ‘Secret Sea’, and Josh gets turned into a fish. So we have a critical plot development happening, but the main core of the drama is back in the loft apartment, with people sitting around a kitchen island.
This island is the setting for another emotional scene, where there is a reconciliation between Alice and Q (Jason Ralph), which has been building and isn’t that much of a surprise, with the writers leading up to this authentically. Between the two of them in both this episode and the last, there has been a vulnerability and a rawness that is played extremely well. What this does mean is that going into the next section of story, there is more of an emotional root for both of them, which bearing in mind what happens later, can only be a help.
After the distressing cliff-hanger at the end of the last episode, where Zelda (Mageina Tovah) and Kady (Jade Tailor) are trapped in the Poison Room, they’re another pair that could also do with some help. Unfortunately, the potential help comes in the shape of Christopher Plover (Charles Shaughnessy), the child molesting writer of the original Fillory books, who Alice tricked and left for dead in there. It seems though that Martin Chatwin’s curse that keeps him alive to suffer forever, continues even in the Poison Room. Both Zelda and Kady find themselves torn between accepting his help (in exchange for freeing him from the room), and letting him rot, even if it is at their own expense. This storyline has been quite intense for Kady, not just from the peril it puts her in, but also because of the irony of getting stuck in the place that killed Penny 40 (Arjun Gupta). The tension is also heightened when it becomes clear that there is a cure after all, which Zelda didn’t reveal previously when she could have saved Penny.
As is quite common with The Magicians episodes, the whole cast do an excellent job with the material, and it is difficult to highlight any one of them from these scenes. The emotional depth and dynamics on display here are excellent, and shows the quality throughout. This includes once again, all the guest cast, such as Camryn Manheim and sadly, for only one last scene, Magda Apanowicz; even then she is only semi-conscious. Hopefully there will be a way for her character to return in some regard, as hiring her for such a small part is a bit of a waste!
Small though it is, that scene with Apanowicz is a turning point with the Monster’s (Hale Appleman) sister taking over Julia’s (Stella Maeve) body. At this point, with the Monster being still seemingly disconnected with reality, they have become a kind of murderous Bert and Ernie, with the sister being much more focused, compared to the Monster’s fun loving Ernie. Their antics though set up what will no doubt be the final battle of the season, with an amped up Q and Alice versus the possessed Julia in her indestructible shell. It seems to have come to a significant and satisfying place in the plot, and looks like it will be a fantastic finale.
While I may have just painted that somewhat comedically, it is in keeping with what is also a very funny episode, which is laced with lots of small gags, as you would expect. The main plot recap includes ‘Bearskip’ and Fogg (Rick Worthy) using a banana phone, so they’ve leant into the humour from the start to counterbalance the darker, or more intense moments, which works perfectly.
Yet again, The Magicians keeps us on our toes, and gives us a slightly different episode, dodging the common formulas. This whole season has seen some interesting twists and turns, and the upcoming finale doesn’t seem like it’s going to steer away from continuing that trend.
